


it gets hard to breathe (the calm before the storm)

by inkstained_pages



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Panic Attacks, Ranboo needs a hug, Ranboo-centric (Video Blogging RPF), Sensory Overload, Sorry Not Sorry, ah this is gonna hurt, but i also like putting him in such pain, i just like ending off on happy notes okay???, i swear if anyone dies today i am going to scream, i will die for ranboo okay, im a tommy apologist and you cannot stop me, no beta we die like someone probably will on the 6th, ranboo angst ranboo angst ranboo angst, read this while we all wait in silent terror for today's stream, tommy is the best in this honestly, unedited cuz i wrote it at 2 am
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-06
Packaged: 2021-03-17 06:16:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28595340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkstained_pages/pseuds/inkstained_pages
Summary: There was too much yelling. It was too loud. Everything hurt. Ranboo needed to get out, and he needed to get out now. He couldn’t stand their judging stares and blaming eyes. He couldn’t stand it knowing that they thought he was a traitor.Or,In which Ranboo gets overwhelmed by everyone calling him a traitor, and flees while on the verge of a panic attack. However, help comes in the form of a strange, but familiar friend.
Relationships: Ranboo & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 18
Kudos: 1007





	it gets hard to breathe (the calm before the storm)

**Author's Note:**

> HELL YEAH RANBOO ANGST  
> The discord server i’m a part of loves angst and well, i love them, so here is a gift y’all. You guys are the best <3  
> I churned this out in like an hour at 2 am after watching SAD-ist’s animatic (IT’S SO GOOD Y’ALL I WATCHED IT AT ONE AM AND IT WAS SO WORTH IT I CRIED) so it’s unedited and may make no sense and be terrible  
> Oh well  
> I live to cause pain  
> !! TW for panic attacks and sensory overloads !!  
> Enjoy :)

There was so much yelling, everyone was yelling, all there was was  _ yelling _ .

Ranboo couldn’t take it anymore. He tried to speak out, he tried to convince them that they were wrong, that they needed to choose people instead of countries, friends instead of nations.

They didn’t listen. Of course they didn’t! No one ever did, Ranboo should’ve known this by now. No one ever listens to him, it is a fact of life, like how the sun rises in the morning. The sun rises, the moon sets, and no one listens to Ranboo.

And now they were all yelling at him, telling him he had no loyalty, no backbone, that he was a  _ traitor _ . They spit the last word out like it was filth, their eyes alight with disgust and fury, bodies tensed like they were about to attack. They glared at him with hatred, and Ranboo felt every stare. He was hyper aware or every shift in their body, ready to flee at the sudden hint that someone was going to attack.

They wouldn’t, right? They were his friends. They would never attack him.

_ They might. They might hurt you. Look at them, they’re angry. They hate you. They’re going to hurt you. Run. _

Ranboo blocked out the thoughts. They wouldn’t hurt him.

Everyone was still yelling, but Ranboo had long ago stopped listening. It was all the same; Ranboo is a traitor, Ranboo has no loyalty, Ranboo is the one who is causing all the problems, Ranboo, Ranboo,  _ Ranboo _ .

Ranboo wanted it to stop. He  _ needed _ it to stop. He was going to scream if they didn’t. 

Everything was too much. It was too loud, too bright. He could feel everything, the wind on his face, his clothes rubbing uncomfortably against his skin. The sun pierced his eyes and drove into his skull like a hammer, creating a pounding headache. All he could hear was shouting and arguing, and  _ he needed it to stop. _

“Stop,” he whimpered, clamping his hands on his ears. “Please, just stop.”

They continued to yell, completely ignoring him.

_ They’re not going to listen. You should leave. They’re going to keep arguing regardless. No one ever listens to you. _

Ranboo was about to argue back at himself, when a voice broke through the haze that was settled over his mind.

“It’s  _ Ranboo _ who gave Dream all our information in the first place! If he hadn’t written it down, maybe some of this could have been prevented!”

Quackity. 

Ranboo could feel his glare boring into him, he could sense the hatred in his gaze. Quackity had been staring at him all night, like he was waiting for Ranboo to do something wrong.

He didn’t have to wait long, Ranboo always messes up.

Most people quieted down, but Ranboo almost wished they would go back to the yelling. Now everyone’s eyes were on him, staring. Judging. Sizing him up, blaming it all on him.

“I didn’t,” Ranboo whispered, shaking like a leaf. He curled into himself, trying to make all 6”6 of him seem smaller. “I wouldn’t. Dream isn’t my friend. He’s- he’s the reason all of this has happened.”

_ They won’t listen. You need to leave, this will only end bad for you. _

“You have no loyalty,” Puffy broke in. “You sided with Tommy and Techno for goodness sake!  _ Techno, _ who is going to  _ blow up _ L’manburg!”

Ranboo shook his head. “I don’t remember, I don’t remember, I  _ don’t remember _ .”

Quackity scoffed mockingly. “Of course you don’t. Convenient, isn’t it? That you should happen to have a memory issue and then ‘accidentally’ hand over all our state secrets to our worst enemy?”

“Stop it,” Ranboo pleaded quietly. His hands went back over his ears as everyone began talking at once again. “Stop it, please. I didn’t mean to, I don’t even know how he got it!”

The talking escalated into yelling, and Ranboo staggered backwards. He couldn’t be here. He couldn’t be here, with the judging eyes and the blaming words of the people he had thought were his friends.

_ They care more about their nations than their friends. More about their countries than their people. They care more about L’manburg than you. _

Yeah. Ranboo was not wanted here. He should have realized sooner. He was never wanted anywhere anyway.

Ranboo stumbled away from the crowd, flinching at every step, the feeling of harsh ground against his feet extremely unpleasant. Noises still were too loud, even now that he was far away from the chaos. The light still hurt, and Ranboo wished he could close his eyes.

His chest hurt. Why did his chest hurt? It ached, like it was screaming for something that wasn’t there.

Oh, right. Breathing. That was a thing.

But try as he might, Ranboo couldn’t manage to take in a solid breath. All he could manage were shaky inhales that often ended in choking. 

Ranboo began to panic, eyes wide as he struggled to breathe. What was going on? Why couldn’t he take in air? Why did everything hurt and why was everything so bright?

Ranboo whined, high pitched and quiet. If he had been lucid enough, he would have been embarrassed at the endermen-like sound, but he wasn’t. Instead, his legs gave out from under him, and he sank to the ground, gasping for air.

_ Air. You need to breathe. Breathe. In and out. _

His inner monologue wasn’t working, and Ranboo felt like he was dying. He was dying, surely? This is what dying felt like. The sensation of not being able to pull air into the lungs, of everything being too loud _ toobrighttoomuch _ -

A hand rested on Ranboo’s shoulder, and his hyper-aware skin picked up on it immediately. He flinched back, expecting pain from the touch, but none came. Instead, the hand retracted itself, and Ranboo was startled out of his panic enough to hear a voice filter through.

“-anboo? Ranboo, can you hear me? You need to breathe, Ranboo!” It sounded familiar, and distantly Ranboo placed the voice as someone safe, someone who hadn’t been yelling. That was enough for him.

“C- can’t,” Ranboo managed to gasp out. “Can’t bre- eathe.”

“I know, I know, Ranboo. But you gotta try.” Ranboo heard the person mumble a curse before something grabbed his wrist. He panicked for a split second before his hand was rested against something warm, something alive.

“You feel that? That’s my heartbeat, big man,” said the voice.

Ranboo could feel it, the gentle  _ ba-thump, ba-thump  _ of a living heart against the skin, soft and grounding. It eased something in his chest, but he still couldn’t get enough air inside his lungs.

“Now, breathe with me, Ranboo. In and out, in and out.” The thing he was touching (he assumed it was someone’s chest) began rising and falling at a deep and steady pace. “Follow me Ranboo, breathe.”

Ranboo tried to match his breathing pattern with them, sucking in air when their chest rose and letting it out when it fell. It hurt and it seemed impossible, but the person in front of him kept murmuring small reassurances and encouragements. 

Eventually, after what felt like hours, Ranboo could breathe with little difficulty, and the world around him seemed less overwhelming. The person let go of his wrist and Ranboo withdrew his hands to his chest, clenching them together to stop the shaking.

He blinked open his eyes, squinting briefly at the light, before he adjusted and saw the person who had helped him.

“T-Tommy?” Ranboo was very confused.

“There you go big man.” Tommy gave him a smile, a gentle one, a  _ real _ one, and Ranboo’s confusion grew. “Your brain back in the land of the living?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m good. I think,” Ranboo stuttered. “How- what? What are you doing here? And how did you know what to do?”

Tommy blinked and suddenly looked sheepish, dropping his gaze to the grass and blushing lightly. “Ah. Well, I remember Phil having to help Wilbur out of some when we were younger. Wil used to have them a lot, but when Phil left, and then Techno shortly after, I was the only one around to help him. You learn pretty quick when it’s necessary.”

Ranboo blinked again. “Oh.” Ranboo had forgotten that Tommy was the adopted son of Phil, and that Wilbur and Techno were his adopted brothers. They certainly didn’t treat each other like family. 

_ But what do you know about family? _

Fair point, Ranboo conceded.

Tommy shrugged. “Yeah. No big deal. It’s called a panic attack by the way. Had a few myself, actually. Not fun.”

“Uh, yeah. Not- not fun.” Ranboo nodded, before getting to his feet. He swayed briefly from the sudden change in movement, before Tommy grabbed him by the shoulders to steady him.

Despite knowing that Tommy wasn’t a threat, Ranboo still flinched, his skin still sensitive after the episode.

Tommy immediately withdrew his hands. “No touching?”

Ranboo stiffened. Was he allowed to say no? “I don’t uh, think so. No. No touching.”

But Tommy only nodded seriously, before shifting back a little bit, giving Ranboo more space. He was grateful. 

“Come on then,” Tommy said, beckoning for Ranboo to follow. He turned and started heading off somewhere, and Ranboo supposed he didn’t really have anywhere else to go. He would rather go with this strange, softer version of Tommy than back to the chaos and yelling of everyone else.

Tommy led him to the prime path, and then down it and up a hill. When they got to the top, Ranboo spotted a little door on the side of another hill, and read the sign above it. 

‘TommyInnit’s Home.’

Tommy opened the door and held it open for Ranboo.

Huh. Tommy technically wasn’t in exile anymore, Ranboo reasoned. He shrugged, before going inside, Tommy following.

“It’s not much right now, but I’ll fix it up soon enough, after tomorrow.”

Ranboo sucked in a sharp breath. He had forgotten about tomorrow in his panic. What was going to happen? Why were they choosing to fight? Who was going to die-

“Hey! Ranboo!” 

Tommy’s sharp tone snapped Ranboo out of his thoughts, and Ranboo turned his bewildered gaze to him. “What?”

“You went all panicky and shit,” Tommy replied, guiding Ranboo to sit on a small chair that looked to be freshly crafted. “So, no talk about tomorrow then.”

Ranboo gulped and shook his head. “Preferably not.”

Tommy nodded. “Noted. We’ll have to talk about it eventually, but for now we can talk about whatever.”

“I don’t know how much talking I’ll be doing,” Ranboo confessed. 

Tommy waved him off, bustling around the small dirt home preparing something. “That’s fine. I am after all  _ the _ TommyInnit, and I’m very good at talking. The best, even.”

And so he did. He talked about nothing, and he talked about everything. He told Ranboo stories about the times before L’manburg, when he first joined the server and immediately caused all sorts of trouble, when Tubbo finally joined him, when he and Fundy pranked Tubbo with invisibility potions.

He handed Ranboo a cup of something, tea probably, by the smell of it, and continued.

He told Ranboo the legends Phil had told him as a child, stories of Blaze Empresses and Ender Kings, of Shes and Hes, and an old drunk god of the sea. 

Soon enough, Ranboo felt himself relaxing. He made a few comments on the stories here and there, and soon he and Tommy were just talking about the simple times they had enjoyed with friends.

It was nice. Peaceful, in a way things hadn’t been for so long. 

It was the calm before the storm. 

But, Ranboo supposed, he could enjoy the calm while it lasted.

And perhaps he had a friend in Tommy, with whom he could ride out the storm.

**Author's Note:**

> if someone dies (namely tommy and tubbo) i will riot and i will cry  
> how dare these minecraft men make me feel things


End file.
